Offenses recorded by personnel at 10 branches across the municipality during the one-year period included theft, threats and intimidation, and verbal and physical abuse.

Across the same period, occurrences of threats and intimidation surged by 160 percent, while there was a 200 percent jump in verbal abuse.

During one violent occurrence at the town’s Littlemore supermarket, four people assaulted a worker inside the premises in November following a theft. A worker recalled how the group had been hostile when asked to leave, threatening a client.

When a colleague followed them outside, taking note of their vehicle registration plate, they ran back into the store, and a physical assault occurred.

In the aftermath of the event, Police and Crime Commissioner candidate Nicolle Ndiweni visited the store to assist raise awareness of abuse and violence against shopworkers.

Claire Shepard, store manager at Co-op Littlemoore, said: “This incident has greatly impacted our colleague and the team, as we don’t feel safe coming to work for fear of this kind of abuse, which seems to have escalated over the past few years.”

The group has produced a white paper addressing the alarming growth of retail crime across Derbyshire and appealing for revisions to the Criminal Justice Bill to introduce a particular offense for the assault of a shopworker.

Sarah Dickins, of Central Co-op, said: “The safety and wellbeing of our colleagues will always be paramount to us.

“No one should have to fear threats, violence, or abuse, and the fact that this is increasing across the retail industry in our society is unacceptable.

“We continue to invest in efforts to keep our associates safe while giving the finest in-store experience we can for our members and customers.

“We’re working with law enforcement as well as local MPs to push for change together by changing the Criminal Justice Bill, and we hope that collectively as an industry we can make this real difference to all retail workers.”